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| set apart from the rest of the continent by the sahara desert and islamic culture |
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| the people of this region are light skinned arabs, berbers, moors (a mixture of two) and egyptians. |
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| their homelands are almost entirely desert, except for the northern coast where most of the population lives |
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| mediterranean crops, including grapes, olives, citrus, and dates, are grown in abundance |
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| the sahara desert is drifting to the south and west , covering the northern protion of sub-saharan mauritania, mali, niger, chad, and the sudan |
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| nomadic residents of the desert regions are generally light skinned muslims who have little in common with the black populations in the southern parts of those nations |
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| these sub saharan countries, many under military rule, are africa's poorest |
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| the three in the middle (mali, niger, chad) are landlocked. they have few natural resources and must depend upon foreign aid and a limited agriculture in small but fertile regions along their southern borders |
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| frequent droughts have added to their misery |
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| in the early 20th century french west africa ruled all of northern africa except libya (italy), western sahara and part of morocco (spain), egypt (britain), and sudan (britain and egypt). france still plays an influential role |
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| many coastal regions on this bulge of africa share a similiar landscape, climate, economy, religion, and history. cash crops introduced by europeans (cocoa, coffee, palm oil, and rubber), are the chief products of the coastal rain forests. |
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| most of the worlds cocoa and chocolate come from the seeds of local cacao plants. peanuts (locally called groudnuts) and cotton are grown inland, on the hihger and drier Sahel (the savanna bordering the sahara) |
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| harbors had to be built along the coast because the shallow waters and treachorous surf prevented large ships from reaching the shore. |
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| during colonial days, sections of the coast were named for their principal tradfe activites. even though the commerce has cahnged, the descriptive labels remain: Grain coast (liberia, ivory coast (cote de ivoire) gold coast (ghana), and slave coast (togo, benin, nigeria). |
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| from the slave coast and other ports on the continent, an estimated 10 million african slaves were sent to the new world, between the 16th century and the 18th century. many did not survive the voyage. |
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| slave ships transported three different cargoes in a triangular route: they carried finished goods from europe to africa to be exchanged with slaves, who were shipped to the americas, where the ships took on raw materials bound for europe. |
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| christianity was introduced by european missionaries. islam came from the sub-saharan nations on the northern borders. but most of these people are animists, people who worship the dead souls and spirits believed to be part of the natural environment. |
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| when these nations gain independence, they found it necessary to retain french, english , or portuguese as the official language; as close to a common tongue as is possible, with all the local dialects. |
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| dense rain forests form a wide band across this part of africa (also called equatorial africa) |
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| to western explorers, the impenetrable jungle; with its opaque canopy of vegetation, pressented a dank, forbidding, unknown world. they described africa as "the dark continent" |
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| few people live in the jungle, most live to the north or south, in the drier, tree-dotted savannas. |
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| their sparse population isnt just the result of an inhospitable jungle. diseases, particulary malaria and sleeping sickness, take thousands of lives. sleeping sickness is spread by the tsetse fly, whose bite can be just as deadly to certain domestic animals. the fly makes it virtually impossible to raise cattle in this part of africa (as well as many regions of western and eastern africa). |
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| because cattle droppings are the main source of fertilizer for most third world nations, the tsetse fly can also restrict crop production |
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| most people speak variations of the bantu language. |
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| the bantus displaced the pygmies some 2,500 years ago. the current pygmy population of 200,000 live as hunter-gatherers in remote parts of the jungle. they average 4.5 in height. pygmies are slowly giving up their life in the jungle because of the destruction of the rainforest. |
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| the mighty congo river and its hundreds of tributaries drain the worlds second largest river basin (after the amazon). the waterways serve as national highways despite rapids and waterfallsd |
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| in some places, mini-railroad lines transport cargo around river obstacles |
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| brazzaville and kinshasa, capital cities of the republic of congo and the democratic republic of the congo (formerly zaire), face each other from opposite banks of the congo river. |
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| portugal was the first european nation to explore and colonize lands that border this part of africa's atlantic coast. but here, as in west africa, the portuguese lost most of their possesions to more powerful european nations |
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| conditions that create the devastating famines of the 1980s in the ethiopian region have improved--particulary the end of a prolonged civil war--but the specter of starvation in this part of africa is always present. |
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| the dark0skinned, and fine-featured people of this region are caucasoids of the hamitic origin, related to the people of the middle east. |
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| christianity and islam are the dominant relgions. |
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| south of the horn live mostly black africans of the swahili-speaking bantu tribes. |
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| the nations of this part of africa are considerably drier, higher, and cooler than other equatorial countries of the continent. |
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| the great rift valley, a giant ditch some 1,200 miles long, is the major geological feauture that separates this part of africa from the rest of the continent |
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| this part of africa is mineral rich |
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| its great natural wealth and mild weather attracted the largest concentration of european immigrants in africa. |
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| consequently, this area has taken the longest for black majorites to regain control of their lands. |
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| most of this region is a high plateau, sloping eastward and upward to the drakensberg range, looming over the coastline on the indian ocean. |
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| the western half is either all desert ( the namib) or semi-desert (the kalahari) |
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